Czech move was wrong, says general

Press, 11 September 1989, Page 10

Czech move was wrong, says general

NZPA-Reuter Warsaw Poland’s Defence Minister, the Communist who led Polish troops in the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, now says the intervention should not have taken place.

General Florian Siwicki made his dramatic aboutturn during questioning at the week-end by a parliamentary commission checking his credentials as Defence Minister in the new Solidarity-led Government. State television reported his comments less than a month after the Sejm (Parliament) passed a resolution condemning the Soviet-led invasion in 1968 which ended the “Prague Spring” reforms led by the then Czechoslovak leader, Alexander Dubcek. “At the time I was doing my duty with conviction. I thought what I was doing was right. Relations with N.A.T.O. (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) states were tense and the cold war was under way,” General Siwicki said. '

“Now I see that one could have acted differently. The intervention should not have taken place. I agree with the Sejm declaration on that.” All countries in the Warsaw Pact military alliance took part in the invasion except Romania. Hungary’s Communist Party leaders have also distanced themselves from the invasion. General Siwicki’s candidacy was approved by the commission after several hours of questioning. The change of views of the Defence Minister, who has been in office since 1981, the year the Solidarity movement was suppressed under martial law, reflects the transformations under way as the new Government prepares for office. Krzysztof Skubiszewski, who is set to become Foreign Minister, has already said Poland must be able to act independently of Moscow, its key ally, and proclaimed the right of Warsaw Pact countries to hold different views.